RIGHT TO PRIVACY

1 Introduction

Right to information (RTI) serve as a fundamental right upon the citizens of India so

that it gives them a legal right to access the information held by government bodies or

instrumentalities of the government. Simultaneously, Right to Privacy allows the

individuals to have authority and supervision of the personal information about them

that is held by the government and private bodies for instance Aadhar card or bank

details. Right to information and right to privacy are complementary and supplimentry

to each othert . they are the two sides of the same coin. They can be rightly called as

complementary and supplementary to each other. But contrary to this nature of these

two there exists a conflict between them. Right to information and right to privacy

both have been globally recognized by more than 110 countries have adopted these

laws. 50 countries across the globe gurantee righet to information in its constitution.1

If we talk about current situation which is prevalent around us it can be witnessed that

technologies have taken over lives, and as dfar as it is concerned with privacy, the

privacy of the individual is being increasingly challenged by new technologies and

trends in the society and with the introduction of internet the invasion over an

individual privacy are quotidian. Sensitive personal data of an individual is very

elementary to leak. Public records are disclosed over internet and go viral with an

blink of an eye. In response to this it became the necessity of an hour to give the

control over their personal information to promote it in many countries have

incorporated comprehensive laws that gives individual certain rights to control over

the collection and use oof their personal information by public and private bodies.

1
Global RTI Rating.
Right to information is a “Sine quo non” of democratic polity, which means that right

to information cannot exist without a democratic establishment.

2 Rights Defined

2.1 Right to Information

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy,

they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the

utmost’2

The right to information is implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution. To establish a

practical regime for securing and safe guarding the information, the indian parliament

enacted a legislation the right to information act, 2005 giving a powerful tool to the

citizens to get information from the government as a matter of right. This law is very

comprehensive in nature that is it covers all the aspect and all matters of governance

and has the broadest reach, being applicable to government at all levels Union, State

and Local as well as recipients of government grants.3

The term “information” means any material in any form, whichmay include records,

documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advice, press releases, circulars, orders,

logbooks, contracts, reposts, papers, samples

2
Aristotle.
3
Guide on RTI Act 2005